The warm weather we've been having has me out on the road bike again after several weeks of running, riding the mountain bike, or racing 'cross.
Saturday, I rode down to the Burton/Middlefield area. I did a pretty easy spin down the bike path from Chardon, then went south on 608 up the steep hill at the south end of the reservoir. I planned to take it pretty easy so I wasn't even paying attention to the power meter. About half way up the hill, I glanced down and was pretty surprised by the number--quite a bit higher than my perceived exertion and way over, like 100 Watts over, what I thought my threshold power is. I kept the pace up to the top of the hill. I tried a few more efforts like that on the way home.
That got me wondering if I've been suckered by my power meter over the past few seasons into thinking my threshold power is lower than it actually could be.
During the 'cross season, I try to ignore the computerized aspect of cycling as much as possible. My 'cross bike doesn't even have a computer, so I have no idea how fast (more like slow) I'm going, let alone how much power I'm cranking out. I just go as hard as I can stand to. I'll have to mix more of that into my prep for next season.
2 comments:
I'd say if your racing a TT and huffing and puffing and at your threshold power at say 3/4 distance of the race
then its close.
I know what you mean about hitting impressive power numbers in the off season. I am like "where did that come from?" Being fresh comes to mind for me.
I probably shouldn't get overly excited. That hill is pretty short!
I'm planning to do more cross training and work in the weight room through November/December before I do some baseline tests. I'll try to do the testing like I'm doing it for the first time, instead of taking any cues from prior results.
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